What Nobody Teaches You About Being A First-Generation American

In this episode, Chelsea talks to Dannielle from First Gen Money about growing up in an immigrant household, how it informed her relationship with money, teaching her parents about investing, and more!

[pri.sci.lla.]

I had to learn a lot on my own about how America works (college, credit) since my parents are immigrants, but they gave me the gift of multiple languages and a beautiful rich culture so I am very grateful.

[sallys]

Retirement plan of my parents culture is to depend on their children to take care of them when they are in old age. It works fine back home because of the social support system, free healthcare, and resources that cater to that. They immigrated to the US, had a hard time finding jobs in their fields (both PhDs) and basically struggled to provide for us and stay above poverty, let alone save for retirement. Had to work to support them and my siblings, not to mention act as the parent myself helping them navigate life in the US. We did well for ourselves (I have a PhD) and I have my own children now, but parents are at the point where they are old enough where we need to start caring for them financially and physically, in addition to catching up for our own retirement and putting our kids through school. It is a really hard middle place to be in.

[marianacastro]

Chelsea, veo tus videos desde hace como 3 años y me han ayudado mucho, a tener mi primera tarjeta de crédito, a salir de casa de mis padres sin morirme de hambre, a ahorrar con inteligencia y a tener una relación muy sana con el dinero, no te imaginas la felicidad que me da escuchar a más latinos y que quieres hacer contenido en español, aunque mis condiciones en este país son distintas a las de USA he encontrado la forma de aplicar tus consejos en mi día a día, te mando un saludo desde México y como siempre mis mejores deseos para ti 💖

[kimmontenegro]

I remember the run on banks in Ecuador when I was a kid. Scary. Everything she said resonates with me. One topic that I would love to see covered is financial abuse within our communities. I did not recognize it until after I had ruined my credit under the guise of loyalty and not being 'greedy'.

[MariaRodriguez-dxsm]

I can't believe that I am doing this, but I have to defend Gwyneth Paltrow in this one: Gwyneth learn Spanish in Spain when she was a teenager, of course she is going to have the accent, just as Ben Affleck is having a really noticeable Mexican accent because that's probably where his teachers were from. It's like saying that you're not going to learn British English because it is snobbish and you rather learn American English because it sounds more friendly

[angeladeluna]

Third gen growing up in a low income Latino community, I've experienced many of these things particularly around preparing for college, and handling money.

[G-L-O-R-I-A]

I was the first one born here. Everyone else in my family was born in Cuba. Financially, I’d say there was more of a generation gap, as my parents were able to get good jobs in their 40’s and still buy a house and retire comfortably. That doesn’t happen these days. I feel privileged that my parents were college educated and expected that of us. Spanish is a gift they gave me, which helped me land good bilingual teaching positions. Now you’ve inspired me to brush up on my French to be truly trilingual!

[lolipena]

1st gen Latina. It’s definitely hard specially with retirement. I’ve gotten pushback from my dad. Like he’s the man he knows his money. I agree they don’t want to hear it. It’s hard to put it into perspective and be nice to say you don’t want me to have that burden on me. It’s so hard to plan your life on top of your parents. That’s where I’ve been struggling and it’s causing me anxiety and overwhelming me. Same about college. Had no idea you had to pay, the forms and prep. Thankfully I got a full ride. But I agree once you got your fist good job. I had to support my family. Wasn’t until 2020 that I was able to break away. But now in 4yrs my father retires. Which is even harder now.

[eviecruz]

Just an FYI regarding generational labels. First gen is the person that immigrates to the US. 1.5 gen are those who immigrated when they were between roughly 9-14 old. Second gen are those born in the US from immigrant parents. This is the standard parlance in Sociology and used by census.
Otherwise great idea

[kima.]

As a first-gen and long-time lover of TFD, thank you!

[Sumflowers]

There is still a subculture within the first generation that don't have that privilege to live with their parents and save because of the toxic environment of judgment and machismo ideas our LatinX family express. For this reason having an individualist mindset is not bad if your parents were never the best to emotionally support you and only wanted to use you for their benefit.

[MariaRodriguez-dxsm]

Ok, I'll try to give you some answers as a recent Latina immigrant:
A) Yes, many of us have what I call Economic PTSD, because we have experienced economic crisis that Americans will never understand like living in actual communism, with all the traumas it implies ( Cubans and Venezuelans), hyperinflation over 50% annually (all LatAm, especially Argentina and Venezuela), banks closing down and losing all your money, expropriation of property without compensation, restrictions for currency exchanges to protect your money from inflation, etc. That's also the reason why we are so fixated about home ownership, because is the best way to protect our money in that kind of scenarios.
B) MLM prey Latino communities for the same reasons they prey in Mormon communities: many are family oriented, religious (so a lot of magical thinking here), financially illiterate, desperated to help with the family finances and having a job with more flexibility, specifically if you have kids. They are a plague in LatAm too, specifically Herbalife and Alway.
C) Retirement is a really difficult topic for the first generation, because the most had really low wages for a long time and it was barely enough to pay the basics (sometimes not even that), let alone saving or retirement. And I'm not even talking "the papers" or financial literacy as other two very important factors. Also, it's culturally expected that the children are going to take care of their parents at a old age, which is easier in LatAm with a cheaper healthcare and a bigger social safety net.
D) Churches are another plague in Latino communities, they can take as much as 30% of an already small paycheck
Edit: grammar and spelling... you know, second language struggles 😩

[cathyl]

First Gen Irish American here. There was a big scandal years ago because one of my cousins moved out of his parents' house without being married. One of my biggest challenges was navigating the college application/loan process as a first-gen college student (and high school for that matter). There is also a strange disconnect since because my family is from a primarily white, English-speaking country, I "pass" as fully American although my parents were never citizens.

[rosac]

I came to the US as a child ( Italy )and one of my biggest struggles in the corporate world was working with people that went away to college and did things like went to summer camp. I had imposter syndrome for a long time. I too am from jersey city like your guest. My parents never learned to speak English and we were their translator. My parents did not trust banks and my parents managed to buy 3 homes in cash. Amazing saving skills.

[summersunsets]

wow- very much looking forward to more content like this. i’m a first gen american and my parents are from mexico. they’ve worked so hard but we DO NOT HAVE financial literacy - and i have a graduate degree! we lack a lot of structural, financial groundwork that american families pass along to each other

currently going through process of trying to understand 401K for myself and realizing i don’t think my parents even use theirs (even though their job offers them). very difficult topics to navigate

looking forward to more content

[briangonsalez]

First generation Latinos go through a lot of emotional hardship: indenture slavery, financial slavery, familiar slavery… so much pressure. At the same time; first generation children are navigating/trying to live their own life to accomplish individual goals. Like a tug of war; trying to create a life of their own and at the same time the responsibility they feel (due to expectations) to help the family.

[JV-bcum]

I stopped going to college so I could help pay for a house and my siblings because my parents didn't make enough. I didn't want debt that wasn't a house and I still don't. Going back to school now that I can focus on paying for it without going into debt. I'm blessed to have parents that don't tell me what I need to do and don't expect anything from me so I can't relate in that aspect.

[aprillauf]

Regardless of topic for this podcast (or listening via Spotify or YouTube), in never ceases to impress me. Rooting for any and all first generation children / families... go Dannielle!

[isabelhenriquez]

I ABSOLUTELY love love this episode. Gracias Chelsea por traer invitados como Danielle.

[saraaguayo-aponte]

Yes! This is great. Thanks for including this on your platform. ❤